Qualifying report

Formula E Misano ePrix II

Misano E-Prix: McLaren's Hughes beats Vergne to pole

Jake Hughes claimed his first Formula E pole position of the season, beating Jean-Eric Vergne to top spot for the second Misano E-Prix.

Stefan Mackley

Published: Apr 14, 2024, 10:00 AM

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Jake Hughes, McLaren, e-4ORCE 04

The McLaren driver had been on impressive form throughout the entirety of qualifying and come the final duel looked likely to claim only his third career Formula E pole.

Hughes was nearly two tenths faster than Vergne in the opening sector, and although the DS Penske driver was fractionally quicker in the middle of the lap, a strong last sector left Hughes with a 1m16.538s – 0.245s faster.

Hughes continued his impressive form from Saturday, with the Briton having qualified third for the opening Misano E-Prix before he was disqualified after it was found his onboard fire extinguisher was not turned on.

A slide on the exit of the final corner almost cost Hughes a place in the final duel as he beat Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein by just 0.053s in the semi-final.

Vergne had an easier time progressing to the final for the second time this weekend after Abt’s Nico Muller lost seven tenths in the opening sector due to a brief power cut, which left the German more than one second behind at the line.

A 1m16.413s, the fastest time from the entirety of qualifying, allowed Hughes to comfortably beat DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne in the quarter-final by nearly seven tenths, as an error in the final sector meant Envision’s Robin Frijns was left 0.706s behind Muller in their bout.

Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23

Photo by: Andreas Beil

A strong final sector meant Nick Cassidy overturned a two-tenth deficit to Vergne in their quarter-final battle, but the Jaguar driver was stripped of his 1m16.961s lap for track limits at the final corner.

The closest margin occurred between McLaren’s Sam Bird and Wehrlein with only 0.072s separating the pair.

Antonio Felix da Costa’s weekend went from bad to worse as a track limits penalty stripped the Porsche driver of his fastest lap, meaning he was unable to progress to the duels and finished last in the opening qualifying group.

The Portuguese driver enters the second Misano E-Prix having been stripped of victory in the opening contest after his car was found to have a throttle damper setting that did not conform to the regulations.

Formula E’s new championship leader Oliver Rowland just missed out on progressing by 0.044s, the Nissan driver having inherited Saturday’s win at the expense of da Costa.

Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther, who was promoted to third yesterday, Lucas di Grassi (Abt), Norman Nato (Andretti), Dan Ticktum (ERT) and Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries also missed the cut.

Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Cassidy headed the group with a 1m17.907s, as Frijns, Muller and Vergne were covered by just over a tenth.

Reigning champion Jake Dennis missed the cut in the second qualifying group by 0.021s as the Andretti driver complained about overheating tyres, as Sergio Sette Camara (ERT) and Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan) also missed out.

Polesitter from yesterday, Jaguar’s Mitch Evans could only manage eighth in the group ahead of Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) and Jehan Daruvala (Maserati MSG).

Hughes led the way with a 1m17.610s as he was joined by Wehrlein, Bird and Vandoorne in the latter stages of qualifying.

Formula E Misano E-Prix II - Starting Grid

Main Information Additional Data

Main Information

Cla Driver # Time km/h 1 United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5

1'16.538

159.073 2 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25

+0.245

1'16.783

158.566 3 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94

+0.332

1'16.870

158.386 4 Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51

+1.393

1'17.931

156.230 5 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8

+0.416

1'16.954

158.213 6 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2

+0.556

1'17.094

157.926 7 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4

+1.200

1'17.738

156.618 8 New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37

9 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1

+1.535

1'18.073

155.946 10 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.dams 22

+1.526

1'18.064

155.964 11 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3

+1.553

1'18.091

155.910 12 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7

+1.534

1'18.072

155.948 13 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.dams 23

+1.588

1'18.126

155.840 14 Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11

+1.545

1'18.083

155.926 15 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9

+1.606

1'18.144

155.804 16 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17

+1.569

1'18.107

155.878 17 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16

+1.717

1'18.255

155.583 18 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33

+1.678

1'18.216

155.661 19 Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48

+1.923

1'18.461

155.175 20 Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21

+1.872

1'18.410

155.276 21 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18

+2.182

1'18.720

154.664 22 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13

+1.916

1'18.454

155.189 View full results

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